Hearty Lasagne and Greek Salad

This tasty, filling meal is really worth it. It is a bit of an assembly job and the individual parts do take time but you can speed it up with a food processor for the vegetables and a little helper to put the layers together at the end. Of course, if you have the time, you can dice the vegetables instead, although using the food processor also helps to disguise the vegetables for any fussy eaters out there. Don't worry the mince bulks it back up again so it is not like going back to pureed again. The crisp Greek salad really compliments the fuller flavoured Lasagne and little ones, if like mine, can pick out the bits of the salad they like (no leaves please Mummy!). It makes a great Sunday dinner or one for occasions and can even be made in advance and frozen for up to three months.

All you need is:

For the meat sauce -
2 Carrots
1 Tin of tomatoes
Pinch of Italian Seasoning (to taste)
1 Courgette
1 Onion
2 Cloves Garlic
500g Beef Mince
1 Stick Celery
1 Stock cube (I tend to use Kallo low salt for the little ones)
1 Pack of dried Lasagne sheets, ready to cook

For the white sauce-
725ml Milk
75g Butter
50g Plain Flour
Freshly grated nutmeg
1 Onion halved and studded with cloves
2 Bay leaves
Salt and Pepper

1. Begin by blitzing the carrots, courgettes, onions, celery and garlic in the food processor whilst heating the oil in the pan. 
2. Drop the veg into the oil and saute until soft. This doesn't take very long as the vegetables are quite mashed by the food processor. 
3. Drop in the meat, increase the temperature and break the meat up as you brown it.
4. Once the meat has browned add your Italian seasoning and tomatoes and bring to the boil. You want the mixture to be quite a dry one once cooked so it doesn't make the pasta too soggy so you can add some water now if needed but not too much as it will have to be cooked off at the end.
5. Turn heat down and simmer for about half an hour. If liquid is decreased enough pop a lid on.
6. Whilst the meat sauce is cooking you can start the white sauce. Melt the butter in a non stick, heavy based pan. Once melted add the flour and cook for a while to get rid of any floury flavour. 
7. Add a little milk and whisk to combine into a smooth sauce.
8. Add the rest of the milk and the other ingredients and turn the heat up to bring to a boil whisking all the time. Once at the right consistency (a thick sauce) turn off the heat and put a lid on to let the flavours infuse for about 20 minutes or until meat is cooked. You can lay some cling film straight onto the sauce to stop a skin forming if you are worried, but i find a good stir and you wouldn't notice it once assembled. After this time remove the onions and bay leaves.
9. Begin to assemble. You need a layer of meat sauce. then pasta, followed by white sauce. Do this again, until all is used up with a white layer on the top. Generously grate over a layer of Parmesan and bake at 180 degrees Celsius for 30-35 minutes until top is all melted and turning brown. 

If freezing, do so before putting in the oven. Defrost before putting in the oven at 180 degrees Celsius for around 1 hour or until hot all the way through and browning on top.

Greek Salad

1. Chop and wash some green leaves or take out of a bag if easier. 
2. Dice cucumber and halve baby tomatoes and sprinkle over.
3. Sprinkle with sweetcorn and top with large chunks of Feta, or just place the block on top.
4. Drizzle generously with Extra Virgin Olive Oil (the good stuff, not the cooking one) and sprinkle over a pinch of oregano (or do that on your own plate if LO's are not keen).
5. Relax and enjoy.